September 5, 2001

Photos of the Day

September 5 – San Francisco Bay

The Photos of the Day are from last weekend’s NOOD regatta at
the St. Francis. We’ll have results, more photos and coverage
of the NOOD in the October issue of Latitude
38. Check in with us again tomorrow or Friday for more
Jazz Cup photos.

Volvo (Around the World) Ocean Race

September 5 – Portsmouth, UK

With the Volvo Ocean Race set to start on September 23 from Portsmouth,
England, odds have recently been posted in both England and Australia.

William Hill in England
has Northern Californian John Kostecki and the German illbruck
entry the favorite at 7/4; Team Tyco 4/1; Team News
Corp 9/2; Assa Abloy with Mark Rudiger of Corte Madera
co-skipper at 11/2; Team SEB 11/2; the Grant Dalton Amer
Sports One (Nautor) at 11/2; Djuice Dragons 8/1; and
Lisa McDonald’s Amer Sports Too (Nautor entry) at 33/1.

Down in Oz, the Centrebet
Web site only had the top and last boats ranked in similar positions.
illbruck Challenge 3.2/1; Team Tyco 4/1; Amer
Sports One 4.5/1; Team SEB 6.5/1; Assa Abloy
6.5/1; Djuice Dragons 6.5/1; Team News Corp 8/1;
Amer Sports Too 50/1.

It’s often said that races are won at the
dock through preparation. If so, no wonder John Kostecki and
illbruck are solid favorites. While Grant Dalton and his
talented crew run around like maniacs trying to put their two
boats together and decide which to keep and which to give to
the women’s team, Kostecki and crew are so prepared they are
taking two weeks off before the start of the race to rest.

Novato’s Dee Smith will be sailing with
Grant Dalton aboard whichever of the Amer Sports boats
they chose. He reports that the Farr boat is a little faster
in conditions where less power is needed, but that the Frers
design is faster where more power is needed. Now the job is to
figure out which is most suited to 32,000 miles of weather over
the next nine months. It’s a tricky question, because the last
time Dalton did the race, it’s believed he lost by picking the
wrong boat. Despite all the deadlines and pressures, Smith says
there is time for fun. The other day, for example, King Juan
Carlos of Spain came out for a sail with them. After the sail,
the Mayor of Sanxenxo took them for a traditional three-hour
dinner, which featured “some of the best seafood I’ve ever
tasted.”

illbruck Challenge plows through heavy seas in last month’s
Fastnet Race.
Photo Peter Bentley

Heading up the Solent after a Fastnet start
Photo Rick Tomlinson

Charges for Boats at Puerto Escondido

September 5 – Sea of Cortez, Mexico

Elvin Schultz, Commodore of the Hidden Port Yacht Club at Puerto
Escondido in the Sea of Cortez, reports:

“This is to inform you that as of
September 1, 2001, Fonatur is charging $75 per month to have
a boat at Puerto Escondido, and $15 for parking a car. The anchoring
fee includes use of the dinghy dock, trash disposal and one cubic
meter of water per month. We received this information on September
3, 2001, and billing will be retroactive to the 1st. To our understanding,
there will also be a daily rate, but we don’t know what it will
be. Sometime in the future all existing moorings will be removed,
and Fonatur will put in moorings of their own.”

“Elvin didn’t have any info on how
this will be administered,” says David Wallace of AirOps,
who passed on the information. “They do have some buildings
near the dinghy dock so it seems likely they will establish an
office of some sort. My guess is that this change is part of
the grand ‘ladder of marinas’ plan for Baja and western Mexico.
I’m actually surprised it took Fonatur so long to figure out
they could be making some money at Puerto Escondido. With 40-50
boats ‘permanently’ residing at Puerto Escondido, plus regular
transients, the income is not inconsequential. The way I understand
it, the Mexican government bought back the development rights
from the French firm that was supposed to develop the area (the
hotel shell remains essentially unchanged since the late ’80s),
and development is fairly restricted since Puerto Escondido falls
within the Marine Park of that area.”

For those not familiar with Puerto Escondido,
it’s considered the premiere hurricane hole in the Sea of Cortez
during the summer. Many cruisers have been living there permanently,
and many store their boats there for the summer. The legality
of the latter has always been up in the air.

Name this Anchorage

September 5 – Mystery Location

Email your answers to Richard.

Rolex Maxi Cup

September 5 – Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy

With the America’s Cup Jubilee having just finished a couple
of weeks ago, you’d think there would be a lull in big boat sailing
on the other side of the Atlantic. But that’s not the case. Twenty-five
of the biggest and most expensive yachts in the world – said
to collectively be worth $200 million – are going at it in a
rather friendly manner at the September 2-8 Rolex Maxi Cup in
Sardinia. Some of the boats are very old, such as George Hinman’s
New York-based 180-ft schooner Adela, which was built
in 1903, but is said to have an interior to rival the best chateaus
in Germany and France. Others entries are very new, such as Luca
Bassani’s Tiketitoo, which not only has a swing keel and
rudder, but four canard daggerboards to give additional lift.
All of them have maxi dimensions. The 124-foot Antonisa,
for instance, draws 24 feet when her centerboard is down. After
two days of fine racing, the third race was called off because
the mistral winds were “strong enough to blow the poms –
Aussies – out of the pubs.”

YOTREPS

September 5 – The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace

Who is out making passages in the Pacific
and what kind of weather are they having? Check out YOTREPS –
‘yacht reports’ – at http://www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/

Weather Updates

September 5 – Pacific Ocean

San Francisco Bay Weather

To see what the winds are like on the Bay
and just outside the Gate right now, check out http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/wind/.

California Coast Weather

Looking for current as well as recent wind
and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena
and the Mexican border? Here’s the place – which has further
links to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/stuff/southwest/swstmap.shtml.

Pacific Winds and Pressure

The University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology
page posts a daily
map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric pressure and winds.

Pacific Sea State

Check out the Pacific Ocean sea states
at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.

For another view, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/global.html.